Confusion

Alex was deep in thought as he walked back to the classroom.

When Alex went back to the classroom, Aurora was the first to jump up and run over to him.

"So? How is she?" Aurora asked, partly in excitement and partly worried.

Excitement was not because Isaura appeared unwell, but because her indifferent and rather cold brother actually took the initiative to go over to see how Isaura was. Sure, she knew very well that Alex had warmed up to Isaura, but to this extent?

That had been a very pleasant surprise.

There hadn't been any hint from her, nor was there a need to do so. She had seen the concern that he had tried to hide, seemingly shimmering underneath his cold blue eyes.

The slight frown that was almost not noticeable – except to her, of course.

Aurora had been so excited that her reaction had almost been misunderstood.

Luckily, her brother knew her well enough not to think that she was being happy that Isaura had fainted.

"She seems fine," Alex replied as he continued to walk over to his desk.

"Seems?" Aurora said, picking up on that word.

Ziad and Fleur, who had been waiting for them to arrive, also pricked their ears upon hearing that.

Alex's pressed his lips together to form a thin line before he spat the words out, showing his displeasure, "The doctor didn't seem too concerned at all even though she was still unconscious when I arrived. But at least she woke up when I called out to her."

Aurora pursed her lips, tapping her finger on her chin as she tilted her head and thought about Alex's words, "It's quite obvious that you're not impressed with the doctor or have any trust in her skills…"

Alex turned to look at her with a 'Captain Obvious' expression on his face – to which Aurora ignored as always, "… yet, the fact that Isaura did wake up makes you doubt whether your assessment of her is correct. You must have just left the room after making sure Isaura was fine."

"Stop analysing me," Alex growled under his breath as he sat down.

"But whhyy?" Aurora asked, dragging the words out, "It's so much fun! You're like this puzzle that seems simple but is actually quite complex."

"Yes, utterly fascinating," Fleur agreed.

Ziad, as usual, just kept quiet and sat back down on his chair while Alex decided to resolutely ignore his twin sister and her best friend. He turned his head away from his sister and stared out the window.

Aurora wasn't perturbed in the least upon seeing that Alex was ignoring her, and sat down on her chair beside him. She turned towards Fleur and continued to talk about the latest music video from their favourite band.

What was the name of the band again?

Thinking that his normally serious sister can go fangirling over some stupid band made his head spin.

Alex snorted inwardly, rolling his eyes as he half listened and his eyes narrowed a bit as he looked outside.

Girls were just too much trouble.

Yes, even that little one sleeping soundly in the medical room.

Or should he say, especially that little one?

At that moment, the little one that was supposed to be sleeping soundly in the medical room was roaming around the school in a daze. She didn't want to return to the classroom as the thought of meeting people at that moment seemed rather daunting.

So, when she had gotten up from the bed earlier, she just smiled as sweetly as she could and told the doctor that she was fine and going back to the classroom. The moment she turned the corner, however, she went the opposite direction and was now as far away from the classrooms as she could be.

If it wasn't for the fact that the security in the school was tight, she would have walked out of the school already. She looked up in despair, then her eyes lit up.

There were trees lined up alongside the wall of the school and one particular tree had a branch stretching out. It didn't quite reach the outer part of the school but it was enough.

Thus, with great determination, the little one climbed the tree, basically hugging the branch that stretched out. When she had almost reached the end, she held on tightly to the branch and tentatively hung herself down.

Much to her relief, her weight had already caused the branch to lower down a bit and she felt her feet touch the top of the wall. Once she steadied herself, she let go of the branch and smiled.

But her smile wasn't on for long when she looked down on the other side of the wall.

Why was it so high?!!

She gulped, sat down, and was ready to cry as she looked down.

"Stupid," came a voice from somewhere behind her.

Startled, she turned quickly and to her horror, she lost her balance. She could feel herself falling backward and her hands flailed about as she closed her eyes instinctively.

She gasped as she was suddenly embraced and her face hit something hard. It was painful and tears came to her eyes as the smell of pine or some wood or something hit her nose. She could feel an arm wrapped around her waist and though she was still falling, it wasn't as fast as she thought it would be.

She grabbed the person that was holding her, thinking that she was safe.

It didn't make sense, but she was safe.

✿ Author posts on WN and neovel ✿

"You can let go now," Alex said with a sigh as they landed outside.

Isaura was gripping him like her life depended on it.

Though granted, it probably had been, considering how high the wall was. Then again, it had been his fault for startling her and causing her to fall in the first place.

No, wait.

What was she doing on the wall anyway?!

When he had seen that little figure walking towards the tree, he had been a bit startled. Then seeing her actually climbing it?

Alex had gotten up so fast and left the room so quickly that no one could respond to it. Even Teacher Krauss just looked at Alex dashing out with his mouth slightly open, before he just shook his head and let it be.

Alex was ordinarily a good kid, so he would 'close one eye', so to speak, over this but he would certainly give him a talking to when the kid got back. Such behaviour had to be curbed from the start – or at least, let him respect the teacher that was still in the classroom!

The disobedient kid flicked his wrist, causing the wire that was attached to a grappling hook on the tree to retract its claws. It disengaged itself and returned to the watch on his wrist.

At that moment, the watch was like a skeleton frame. Only the case body could be seen attached to a thin metal strap. The wire wrapped itself around that metal strap, and the 'hook' covered it, closing its claws and forming a patten.

It now looked like a normal watch with a unique pattern on the strap.

Alex patted Isaura's back again and said, "We're on the ground now, Isaura. Let go."

With a jerk, Isaura did let go and jumped back, looking at him in horror.

"Alex?!" she gasped out, her eyes full of confusion.

Alex frowned as he stared at her.

What was with her reaction?

As if noticing his puzzled gaze or realising that she had over-reacted, Isaura hit her head and made several bows, "Sorry, sorry!"

That made Alex frown even more.

Since when did Isaura have the habit of bowing to show her apology?

Isura tended to apologize a lot because she liked to jump on him and hug him. She knew he didn't like it, but she kept on doing it anyway. She would apologize when she felt she had overdid it, but she would only put her two hands together, palm up, and put them against her face.

Bowing?

And jumping back like that when it had only been a hug?

If he didn't know any better, it would appear as if that was the first time they had been in such close contact.

She had even rubbed her cheek on his face, for goodness sake!

"Thank you," Isaura was saying, waving her hand in front of her face, "Thank you, Alex."

"That was a stupid thing to do, you know," Alex told her, deciding not to raise the point of her earlier strange behaviour, "And what are you doing, trying to sneak out?"

Isaura was looking down now, and when she looked up, she looked like she was going to cry.

Which she did, and ran straight into Alex and hugged him tightly.

"Alex Alex Alex," she was saying as she rubbed her face on his chest.

Alex just stood there, frozen for a bit and if it had been a comic strip, one would have seen multiple question marks above his head.

Just what was going on??

Did the earlier fainting spell cause her brain to short circuit??

Alex was so confused.